FedEx center coming to Pearl
To meet rising consumer demands, FedEx Ground announced last week that it will complete construction on a massive distribution center to be opened in Pearl by August 2017.
The new facility, part of a nationwide expansion, will take up more than 248,000 square feet and will replace a smaller center that operates in Richland. This move will primarily enable the company to meet and exceed a rising number of customer demands in the area surrounding Pearl. Although the company would not provide an estimate of how many jobs the center would create, it did say that the new distribution center will employ a mixture of full and part-time employees, and additional employees will be hired to fulfill service requests as needed.
Located on Old Whitfield Road, the site for the new facility was chosen because of its close proximity to recruit employees from the local workforce, an easy access to major highways and an availability to customers’ distribution centers.
Meredith Heighington Miller, a spokesperson for FedEx, said in an email to The Clarion-Ledger that the new facility, just one of several opening in the U.S., will serve to boost package volume capacity on a daily basis and further improve the speed and service capabilities of the company.
During the coming months and as plans are being finalized, more information will come available with respect as to how many jobs the new center will create and if FedEx will seek property tax incentives for the project.
In Pearl, the distribution center is being welcomed with open arms for the economic good fortune it will bring.
Kathy Deer, executive director for the Pearl Chamber of Commerce, expressed excitement for the jobs that the new facility will create and the attraction it will have on potential new residents.
“It will definitely help out the economy,” Deer told The Clarion-Ledger.
In her 11 years with the chamber, nine of which she has acted as the director, Deer has seen a huge economic growth spurt for Pearl, the 12th largest city in Mississippi according to the latest survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. Deer says she expects the new facility will allure and provide more jobs in the area, which will in turn, bolster the city’s prosperity.
Deer says she cannot recall how many businesses have opened in Pearl during her tenure, but in the last year, she estimated she went to 100 ribbon cuttings.
“It’s crazy,” said Deer, “but it’s the good kind of crazy.”
The new FedEx distribution center will be the latest addition to Pearl's directory of companies, right behind a steady string of businesses that have settled in the town lately. Just in the last few years, the mall, Outlets of Mississippi, has brought more than 70 stores to Pearl.
In the last decade, FedEx has opened 11 new hubs that feature material-handling systems and has relocated or expanded more than 500 local facilities. FedEx says the changes caused by the expansion are allowing the company to reach more general locations, as well as more residential areas, than its competition.
Contact Royce Swayze at 601-961-7240 or rswayze@gannett.com. Follow @royce_swayze on Twitter.